Chapter Nineteen
Entry Fifty-Two
“Dost thou know thy mother now, child?” asked she, reproachfully, but with a subdued tone. “Wilt thou come across the brook, and own thy mother, now that she has her shame upon her,—now that she is sad?”Hester is disappointed from her daughter just like every other mother in the world would be. When your child is comfortable when you feel sad there is something wrong. But Pearl doesn't know any better. She is used to her mother being in a dark mood so she associates it with normality. I don't think that Pearl wants her mother to feel ashamed intendedly. She is not a bad person. But radical changes usually scare children and they feel better in familiar situations. Now that Hester looks like she did before, Pearl acknowledges her again and walks to her.
"In a mood of tenderness that was not usual with her, she drew down her mother’s head, and kissed her brow and both her cheeks. But then—by a kind of necessity that always impelled this child to alloy whatever comfort she might chance to give with a throb of anguish—Pearl put up her mouth, and kissed the scarlet letter too!"Maybe Pearl realized, due to the lack of the "A" for a moment, that she loves the letter like she loves her mother because for her it is her mother. Hester scolds Pearl for kissing the A too but Pearl doesn't even responses to it.
"tenderness that was not usual"...why?
ReplyDeleteDoes she see her mother as the "A" or is it just the unusual moment of not recognizing her. How would you react if you went home and your mother had dyed her hair purple? Is this similar to Pearl's reaction?